As most of you have known I am building a system for my brother-in-law who is a proud member of our Canadian Armed Forces. He was over in Afghanistan for a 9 month tour and returned back home in October. I started out by posting a thread just seeking advice on parts for the build and the next thing you know fellow members of Hardware Canucks started pouring donations of parts and money to purchase parts for this build. What started out as a simple light gaming rig has turned into a kick ass gaming rig that can frag with the best of them. The reason for the donation of parts and money was simply because members of this community wanted to show their Canadian pride and gratitude to a fellow Canadian who serves his country and helps to provide the freedom we have.

My brother-in-law and his family would like to thank the following HWC members for their support and donations:

3.0Charlie

Chilly

chriswarren

crazyhorsejohnny

Dr. BenD_Over

encorp

FreqE1

mattlief

misterlarry

Rommel

Wolfbane

Xilikon

And anyone else that I might have forgotten to mention

System Specs

CPU: Intel E8500 @ 3.16GHz

HSF: Xigmatek HDT-S1283 w/ Crossbow mounting kit

CPU Fan: Scythe S-Flex 120mm

Motherboard: EVGA nForce 750i FTW SLI

Memory: G.Skill F2 2x1GB PC2-8500 DDR-1066 5-5-5-15

Video Card: EVGA 8800GT 512MB SLI

Hard Drive: Wester Digital Caviar SE 500GB SATA2

Optical Drive: LG 18x DVD±RW

PSU: Antec TruePower Trio 650W

Case: NZXT Apollo

System Monitoring: Silverstone FP52 Display

System Cooling: 2x120mm Silverstone FM121, 1x120 NZXT Blue LED

Now lets get one with build.
Prep & Installation - Part One

This is mainly going to be a bunch of pictures with not too much writing because failry everything went together easily.

This is a shot of the workarea with EVGA 750i FTW and the E8500 already in the socket.

Here we can see a test fit of the system parts before they get mounted into the case. The Xigmatek HDT-S1283 was a dream to mount to the board with Crossbow mounting kit. To mount it first, placed the backplate for the HSF under the board, then I laid down a line of Arctic Cooling MX-2 and then placed the HSF ontop. From there I secured the screws finger tight in a crisscross pattern. Then I gave them a quarter turn with the screw driver in the same sequence. This HSF is on there securely to say the least. Mounting of the fan was intriquing. The rubber "push-pin" mounts felt like I was going to rip them when I pulled them through the mounting holes in the fan. The fun part was mounting the fan to the heatsink. They went in with some persuasion. I'm glad those mounts are rubber cause I had to stretch them.

In this second shot we have a close up the installation. The hard drive was very easy to install with a truely toolless design. However I have found one thing I do not like about this case. The expansion clips. IMO they are worthless. They are flimsy and feel like they are going to break when you move them. I decided to go with the good ole standby; screws.

So there you have part one of this worklog. Stay tuned for Installation - Part 2 as well as Cable Management.
Unfortunately I will not be able to hook up the system before I deliver it to my brother-in-law. My sister has requested the rig not get hooked up until she makes room for it in their bedroom. This will not be happening until they return from their Christmas vacation in the beginning of January. :sad: But rest assured I will have updates of it running at that point in time.

BALISTX

December 3, 2008 11:09 PM

Installation - Part 2

Normally on a Sunday afternoon I would be in front of the TV watching football. However this Sunday I decided to continue on the build for my brother-in-law. Let’s get one with it shall we.You may notice in this pic that the HSF is now turned 90 degrees. The reason for this I was unable to install the power supply with facing the original way that I had it. I hope with having blowing air up it won’t hinder its performance.

You will also notice that there is different RAM installed. You would be correct. I decided to replace the Buffalo Firestix with a pair of G.Skill F2 PC2-8500. There are two reasons for this; 1) the G.Skills are better performing RAM, 2) this build has a blue coloured theme. Getting into the cable management I decided not to cut a hole in the motherboard tray to pass the wires through, I strategically organized the wires and using zip ties I tied them together. The excess wires I shoved in the empty drive bay area.

As you can see in this pic I even did some cable management on the backside even though you won’t be able to see it when the side panel is on.

That’s all I did so far, the install is done. I put some power to it and the good news is it didn’t blow up, everything seemed to be work. It even did the one beep so I know it posted. I think I did a good job. If you look closely you can see my reflection in the side panel.

So on my next day off being TuesdayI’ll hook up my 250GB Seagate drive, install Windows XP as well as the drivers and some benchmarking software and see what this thing has. Unfortunately I won’t be overclocking it.

BALISTX

December 3, 2008 11:09 PM

Reserved for Windows and Software Install

BALISTX

December 3, 2008 11:09 PM

Reserved for Updates.

3.0charlie

December 4, 2008 07:48 AM

The assembly has begun! But you have to at least make sure it POSts, and install an OS...

BALISTX

December 4, 2008 07:54 AM

The OS I have to get off my Sister. She has Vista Home Premium 32-bit but I won't be able to get that until they get back in January. I guess I could through my 250GB hard drive in and test the system.

encorp

December 4, 2008 09:26 AM

Wow, nice to see this going! :) Lookin good!

BALISTX

December 4, 2008 11:02 AM

Thanks. If I have time tonight I'll install the PSU, Fan Controller and DVD Burner and post updates.

Xilikon

December 4, 2008 11:06 AM

It's a pleasure to contribute for a kicass build

misterlarry

December 4, 2008 04:31 PM

Glad to see it underway. I truly hope that your bro in law enjoys every minute he spends gaming on it. Nice looking rig so far.